Postgame Quotes – UCLA vs. Oregon
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 75, Oregon 56
Pac-12 Tournament (semifinals)
Friday, March 10
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening remarks
“Obviously, congratulate Oregon. I thought they brought the fight, played as hard as they could. Once again, our defense and our toughness get better as the game goes on. These guys just know how to win. The way that we're playing, the pick-and-roll, we thought Tyger could have a big night in our game plan with the coaching staff. He was able to get enough shots where he was able to get in a great rhythm. It doesn't surprise me. He's a great player, so not shocked at all before you ask me if he was – you know, I know he’s got that game in him. Tonight was his turn
“Yesterday was Amari's turn. The stat sheet's wrong because in the locker room they gave me one that said the rebounding was 40-40. So second half, our rebounding was much, much better, much better. So first half their offensive rebounding kept them in the game. They're big. They're bigger than us at every position. But it's not how big you are. It's how tough you are. It's not how tall you are. It's how big you play. So we stepped it up. Guys were awesome. Guys gave us a lot of contributions off the bench, so onward we fight.”
on losing Adem Bona to a left shoulder injury and then the Bruins surged ahead
“Yeah, not a shock. It's why guys have got scholarships. I told you last year, I became a hockey fan watching my buddy Erik Johnson. I didn't know the rules. So they actually have to play a man down. In basketball you get to put somebody else in. It's a heck of a deal. You still get to play five on five. So people say, you don't have this guy or that guy. I mean, it would be different if you didn't have anybody to put in. We got guys on scholarship for a reason. They practice hard – we prepare them for a reason, we try to tell them their moment's going to come. We tell 'em all year, ‘Your moment's going to come in March and we're going to need you.’ So guys gave us big minutes off the bench. And we just worry about defense. If we worry about defense, we worry about playing smart, the ball's eventually going to go in.”
on UCLA’s contributions from several of the reserve players
“It was great. It's great for those guys. I'm happy to see those guys get a chance to get in there. It gets 'em ready for next week, gets 'em some game experience a big-game environment like that, to get off the bench like that. But I would say this, in my opinion, we stopped getting beat off the dribble and the game changed. Once we were able to stop getting beat off the dribble, which is easier said than done against some of their guys – but once we did that, defensively we took it to another level. They were forced to take a lot of perimeter shots, a lot of jump shots. I think that was the whole key in the second half. Look, it's hard, sometimes you got to adjust to the speed of the game, and some of the guys got tremendous quickness on their team. But second half, we did a better job with the scouting report. But, yeah, like you said, I'm happy that Dylan, Mac, Will, Abramo, Kenny all got to contribute.”
on any injury update with freshman Adem Bona
“Do you think I would tell you? No, I have no idea. He looks good in the locker room. But, no.”
on adjustments to play against Oregon’s N’Faly Dante
“Yeah, he's 3-11, and 10 of those he tried to take a jumper late, but 10 of them are point blank. We did a pretty good job. We tried to make it hard to throw it to him. We tried to give him some perimeter guys digging in there just to give him stuff to think about. Ware actually hurt us more. He can make guarded shots over people. The guy's seven-one. It's like Kenny Nwuba told me one time, he's like, ‘I don't know what else I could do but tackle him.’ But Dante's had a great career at Oregon, four years, overcome the ACL thing. He still got 10 rebounds. But we did a good job, no doubt about it. Look, we're not the biggest team in the world, but like I said, it's not how big you are. It's how big you play.”
on the play of forward/center Kenneth Nwuba
“Huge, bigtime. Those were big. No doubt. Those are bigtime blocks, too. He came from out of nowhere. I didn’t know he was going to get those. Those were impressive plays. It was good to see him moving good again. The injury to his hip has really been bothering him for the last month, so it was good to get, to see him get out there and get mobile again. Happy for him. These guys will tell you, Kenny's a loyal soldier – loves his team, loves UCLA, can count on him all the time, whether he gets in or not. He helps you win with his attitude every day. So just a great, great kid.”
UCLA senior guard Tyger Campbell
on the Bruins’ favorable momentum swing midway through the second half
“Well, I was just more worried about winning. You said they cut it to three, and coach called some great plays. Our bigs were getting me open on our ball screens. And then we were able to get the switch, so I could get the shot that I wanted. So I was really just trying to make anything happen. I believe in myself as a player and any shot I take I feel like it's going to go in, and they just went in today – yeah, I was thankful for that.”
on how it feels to make so many key plays and have the crowd going nuts
“All I'm really worried about is just winning the game. Of course it felt good. It felt good. It was more looking over at my teammates and seeing them excited. That really gets me excited. So, yeah, that was about it, just looking over my team.”
on if he models his game after any NBA guards, such as Chris Paul
“You kind of said it. I watch a lot of Chris Paul highlights. Steve Nash is one of my favorite players. Just guys that kind of mastered the mid-range. When the team just gives me those shots, I just try it take 'em confidently and try to knock them down.”
UCLA senior guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on the Bruins’ ability to close games
“I think it's a lot of, we got, like I said before, we've had a lot of veterans on this team. We had Adem go down and then slide in Kenny right there and he had huge plays for us, big rebounds, big blocks. We've just been in these situations before. Four years, you get a lot of experience. We got a great point guard right here and he's our closer. We get him the ball, he brings it up the court, he takes care of it for us and gets us all in the right position and, gets our offense in the right position to make plays and defensively as well.”
on what it would mean to him, winning this Pac-12 Tournament
“It would mean that all this hard work paid off. We worked so hard this year. Even the years in the past, we fell short last year. It would be great to just overcome that and bring home the Pac-12 Tournament championship.”
UCLA 75, Oregon 56
Pac-12 Tournament (semifinals)
Friday, March 10
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening remarks
“Obviously, congratulate Oregon. I thought they brought the fight, played as hard as they could. Once again, our defense and our toughness get better as the game goes on. These guys just know how to win. The way that we're playing, the pick-and-roll, we thought Tyger could have a big night in our game plan with the coaching staff. He was able to get enough shots where he was able to get in a great rhythm. It doesn't surprise me. He's a great player, so not shocked at all before you ask me if he was – you know, I know he’s got that game in him. Tonight was his turn
“Yesterday was Amari's turn. The stat sheet's wrong because in the locker room they gave me one that said the rebounding was 40-40. So second half, our rebounding was much, much better, much better. So first half their offensive rebounding kept them in the game. They're big. They're bigger than us at every position. But it's not how big you are. It's how tough you are. It's not how tall you are. It's how big you play. So we stepped it up. Guys were awesome. Guys gave us a lot of contributions off the bench, so onward we fight.”
on losing Adem Bona to a left shoulder injury and then the Bruins surged ahead
“Yeah, not a shock. It's why guys have got scholarships. I told you last year, I became a hockey fan watching my buddy Erik Johnson. I didn't know the rules. So they actually have to play a man down. In basketball you get to put somebody else in. It's a heck of a deal. You still get to play five on five. So people say, you don't have this guy or that guy. I mean, it would be different if you didn't have anybody to put in. We got guys on scholarship for a reason. They practice hard – we prepare them for a reason, we try to tell them their moment's going to come. We tell 'em all year, ‘Your moment's going to come in March and we're going to need you.’ So guys gave us big minutes off the bench. And we just worry about defense. If we worry about defense, we worry about playing smart, the ball's eventually going to go in.”
on UCLA’s contributions from several of the reserve players
“It was great. It's great for those guys. I'm happy to see those guys get a chance to get in there. It gets 'em ready for next week, gets 'em some game experience a big-game environment like that, to get off the bench like that. But I would say this, in my opinion, we stopped getting beat off the dribble and the game changed. Once we were able to stop getting beat off the dribble, which is easier said than done against some of their guys – but once we did that, defensively we took it to another level. They were forced to take a lot of perimeter shots, a lot of jump shots. I think that was the whole key in the second half. Look, it's hard, sometimes you got to adjust to the speed of the game, and some of the guys got tremendous quickness on their team. But second half, we did a better job with the scouting report. But, yeah, like you said, I'm happy that Dylan, Mac, Will, Abramo, Kenny all got to contribute.”
on any injury update with freshman Adem Bona
“Do you think I would tell you? No, I have no idea. He looks good in the locker room. But, no.”
on adjustments to play against Oregon’s N’Faly Dante
“Yeah, he's 3-11, and 10 of those he tried to take a jumper late, but 10 of them are point blank. We did a pretty good job. We tried to make it hard to throw it to him. We tried to give him some perimeter guys digging in there just to give him stuff to think about. Ware actually hurt us more. He can make guarded shots over people. The guy's seven-one. It's like Kenny Nwuba told me one time, he's like, ‘I don't know what else I could do but tackle him.’ But Dante's had a great career at Oregon, four years, overcome the ACL thing. He still got 10 rebounds. But we did a good job, no doubt about it. Look, we're not the biggest team in the world, but like I said, it's not how big you are. It's how big you play.”
on the play of forward/center Kenneth Nwuba
“Huge, bigtime. Those were big. No doubt. Those are bigtime blocks, too. He came from out of nowhere. I didn’t know he was going to get those. Those were impressive plays. It was good to see him moving good again. The injury to his hip has really been bothering him for the last month, so it was good to get, to see him get out there and get mobile again. Happy for him. These guys will tell you, Kenny's a loyal soldier – loves his team, loves UCLA, can count on him all the time, whether he gets in or not. He helps you win with his attitude every day. So just a great, great kid.”
UCLA senior guard Tyger Campbell
on the Bruins’ favorable momentum swing midway through the second half
“Well, I was just more worried about winning. You said they cut it to three, and coach called some great plays. Our bigs were getting me open on our ball screens. And then we were able to get the switch, so I could get the shot that I wanted. So I was really just trying to make anything happen. I believe in myself as a player and any shot I take I feel like it's going to go in, and they just went in today – yeah, I was thankful for that.”
on how it feels to make so many key plays and have the crowd going nuts
“All I'm really worried about is just winning the game. Of course it felt good. It felt good. It was more looking over at my teammates and seeing them excited. That really gets me excited. So, yeah, that was about it, just looking over my team.”
on if he models his game after any NBA guards, such as Chris Paul
“You kind of said it. I watch a lot of Chris Paul highlights. Steve Nash is one of my favorite players. Just guys that kind of mastered the mid-range. When the team just gives me those shots, I just try it take 'em confidently and try to knock them down.”
UCLA senior guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on the Bruins’ ability to close games
“I think it's a lot of, we got, like I said before, we've had a lot of veterans on this team. We had Adem go down and then slide in Kenny right there and he had huge plays for us, big rebounds, big blocks. We've just been in these situations before. Four years, you get a lot of experience. We got a great point guard right here and he's our closer. We get him the ball, he brings it up the court, he takes care of it for us and gets us all in the right position and, gets our offense in the right position to make plays and defensively as well.”
on what it would mean to him, winning this Pac-12 Tournament
“It would mean that all this hard work paid off. We worked so hard this year. Even the years in the past, we fell short last year. It would be great to just overcome that and bring home the Pac-12 Tournament championship.”